


Starting a new life

by Get_below_my_line_of_vision



Series: Heart and Soul [1]
Category: Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Canon Era, Gen, Javert Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:14:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24154933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Get_below_my_line_of_vision/pseuds/Get_below_my_line_of_vision
Summary: People are born with Souls and have the ability to give them to those who are important to them.Javert thinks about jumping off the bridge after the realisation that his world view was grossly incorrect.Then he feels it. Someone gave their soul to him.
Relationships: Javert & Jean Valjean
Series: Heart and Soul [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745938
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Starting a new life

**Author's Note:**

> It begins with Javert's thoughts of jumping off the bridge. It is not explicit as it is a generally summed up, more informal version of what is written in the Brick. (just the beginning part)

All his life Javert never questioned authority. The world was flat, he was told when he was young and thus still saw it as to this day. The world had no bumps. Nothing that was out of the ordinary. People were black and white. In this world, they were either good people or bad. But as he stood on the bridge, he looked down at the rushing water below. The depth called to him. He breathed slowly, disoriented.  
There was a world below, he observed. There was a world of unknown which he disregarded. Below him were the people he wrongfully captured. All this cruel realisation was due to Jean Valjean. The man of grey intentions and questionable actions. He caused chaos and crime, yet he was honorable and respectful. He was a member of the unknown world. And Javert felt as if he was falling into the abyss as well.  
In shock, he jolted backwards. Suddenly the depth frightened him.

There were rules he had been taught and had to obey. Working relentlessly despite prejudice Javert followed the law. Yet he was the criminal. Now he found himself guilty of arresting a man and guilty of letting him escape his sentence.  
However a thought gnawed at him. Jean Valjean was certainly the villain in the beginning. He was a thief. In spite of this he rose to the light, embodying a good man. Could this be? Were the rules he was taught deceitful?  
There was strong evidence that he couldn’t deny. Not only from Valjean, but from himself- he was a participant. He had to face the reality.

He realised he wasn’t living in actuality. The scene around him had been an optical illusion; confusing his state. If the world was a whirlwind of lies of morality and disorder, Javert refused to take a part in it. Enduring the havoc was impossible.  
The world wasn’t flat nor bland. Nothing was simple. Javert stood on the parapet, looking down.

Free will did not exist in Javert’s mind. It never did. From his birth he was mocked and labelled to become a street rat, but he took another path; he climbed up. He succeeded. From then on he saw a way of dealing with a barrier. There were two paths. He saw them clearly. He would either return to Valjean, arrest him in his house, take him to jail to face the justice of France.

Or… He looked down.

The darkness was never ending; the midnight swallowed the grounds below. Javert saw nothing, he heard nothing. Above, the clouds concealed the stars and devoured the moon. No light shined down. There was no opposition. Not a single source of light burned in the houses nor were there anyone passing the streets; everyone was absent. Javert was in solitude, left in desolation.

The waters bellowed beneath his feet but Javert was deaf to it. The recent rains had increased its size, effectively having become a hungry monster, demanding for its prey.  
And above, Javert stood, offering himself to the demon.

Leaning, he saw all black- the chasm. He felt himself falling in his mind, the sound of the foam and the entanglement of whirlpools screaming louder as he joined them.  
He knew what he had to do: which path he had to take. The route he saw before him was shrouded in shadows, and it spawned Javert’s long lost fear. He felt many negative emotions in his life, but being frightened was rare. Not even when weapons were raised did he ever doubt his own power. But rarity shined as it was his time to bow down. He had lost. He deserved his death.

He closed his eyes. He was ready to jump.

Then he felt an overwhelming power capture him. There was a wave of energy brushing him. There was a force which wasn’t human that wavered him.  
This made him trip and fall forwards. This was what he wanted after all. But in the moments of his fall he felt immense emotion that he could not explain. It was alien.  
He had to think quick, and twisted his body and held onto the floor of the bridge with his fingers. He grabbed onto the floor with his other hand as well.

The wave of energy diluted and he felt no longer strange in his body. But he didn’t return to how he felt before. He didn’t want to jump.

In tears, he yelled as he pulled himself up. Whatever feeling it was, he needed to know.  
He focused by putting all his energy into it. His memories led to his first day of application, when he wanted to be a police officer.  
The man in front of him called him the slur “Empty”. This was given to those who had no Soul.  
Javert argued back that without a Soul he was free to judge someone without any bias- as an ‘Empty’ would feel no sympathy or love. That was how society deemed them to be anyway. Javert used his weakness as a weapon at that moment.

He opened his eyes. He knew what the supernatural force was. It was a Soul. But who could give it to him?

The sun began to rise and the darkness was chased away. Warmth touched him and Javert became mesmorised. It was a new day. How could there be? It was so dark, he doubted the existence of any light.  
His mind cleared away, as if it was one of the darkness. In the result of this Javert figured where to go. Even if he was not the person who gave him the Soul, he needed to talk to him. He needed to see Jean Valjean.

When the man’s door opened, it wasn’t Valjean. It was a beautiful, delicate blonde woman. She saw his face and gasped. Her grip on the door tightened. She knew who he was. How could she not forget? He was the embodiment of the evil society that had been hunting her and her father for all these years.  
She opened her mouth to beckon for help, but her voice faded away. Carefully, she inspected the man in front of him in more detail. It was time for him to be judged.

Her eyes were wide, but not like before. First, it was of shock, but now it was of sympathy. There was something about him that she was able to sense.  
When she spoke, she spoke so softly it was as if she was singing, “Why have you come here?”

Javert always knew what to say. His intelligence correlated with his confidence, allowing him to weave words into his satisfaction without failure whenever he was prompted to speak. However, not this day. He wasn’t even sure if another day would rise where he could return to who he was, and that was no fault of the Soul. It was due to him acknowledging Jean Valjean’s true self and having to live with the realisation of his actions.  
“You are… Inspector Javert?” Cosette asked for confirmation. Although he looked so alike to Javert in her memory, his behaviour was so vastly different she began to question herself.  
“Ye-yes.” He took off his hat. “Ma-may I enter?”  
Cosette stiffened, her eyes turning glassy. She stood as strong as she could, “Jean Valjean is not here.” She made sure every word acted like a punch.  
Usually Javert would disregard such a statement, but this time the pain made its way through him and hurt him. “I see. But I must enter- until- until he returns home.”  
“Why?” She asked.  
“I-... I was wrong, little girl,” He bit his tongue. Cosette was still a little girl to him. “Co-Cosette. I was wrong. I wish to speak to Valjean.”  
She shook her head slightly, unclear of his intentions. She understood one thing from this meeting; Javert didn’t want to harm her father.

Behind her, a large man emerged. Javert accidentally smiled and quickly covered it by bowing. It was Valjean.  
Surprisingly he bowed back. How could this man be so kind?  
“Inspector Javert.” Valjean spoke.  
“Monsieur Fauchelevent.” He bowed back.  
Valjean was taken back. “I am Jean Valjean. Are you here to arrest me?”  
“No, papa,” Cosette held his arm.  
“No.” Javert affirmed.  
Cosette loosened her grip on her father. "Then...?"  
Valjean nodded and let the foreigner in.

Inside, it was uncomfortable. Cosette was rightfully suspicious and frightened whenever he walked near her. He took all the blame. And everytime she would rush away or make an unpleasant noise, he felt as if he was stabbed in the chest. Of all the years he worked as a police officer he never felt this.  
Valjean offered him tea. Javert accepted, bowing whenever the man looked at him. This was the only reaction he saw fit. He was in the mercy of the man.

As the tension was high, Javert slowly turned to Cosette in order to not frighten the girl-- the woman and he sincerely apologised. “I hunted your father for a pointless reason all these years, and it ends today. It should’ve ended years ago. Especially when I saw you in his arms. You fit so well with him I thought you were his biological child. You were destined to be with him yet I tried to relentlessly strip him away from you.” He took a step forward, but didn’t cause her to step backwards. “I won’t bother you or your lovely family again, you have my word.”  
Valjean chuckled from across the room, “Now, now, Inspector.”  
Javert turned to see him, for a moment their eyeline matched. In embarrassment he looked away.  
“You have nothing to feel guilty for.”  
“Papa!” Cosette protested.  
“Cosette, my dearest, this man only followed the law. What was written and was supposed to follow. I am a criminal.” He smiled but there was no happiness in his tone.  
Before his daughter could protest Javert guiltily interjected, “But you are forgiven! No one was hunting you except me. And I understand I was wrong. I was terribly, immorally wrong.”  
Valjean paused and slowly began walking towards Javert. At that moment he felt powerless. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he accepted the consequences, whatever it may be.

Then Javert was met with a hug. The embrace was warm and made Javert feel… different. Like he was floating. He had felt happiness before when he triumphed over others, but this was different. Much different.  
Javert hugged him back, but not in the manner Valjean did. But in the manner of a man trying to catch an animal. It was the only way to behave; Javert taught himself this. So he embraced the man tightly.

When the two parted, Valjean kept his hand on Javert’s shoulder. “I admire you.”  
Dumbfounded, Javert didn’t know how to respond. He took several steps backwards until his knees gave way and he fell. Teardrops fell to the floorboards. “I don’t understand, Valjean.”  
He knelt in front of him. “What don’t you understand?”  
Javert lifted his head to come face to face with a man so close to him. “Why I was given a Soul.”  
Cosette rushed beside Valjean, crouching down with him, still afraid, but also overcome with the desire to help the man: truly like her father, “Everyone receives a Soul. Being born is a gift of love itself.”  
“Cosette…” Her father gently called out, aware of Javert’s past.  
“I was born in jail with my father gone and my mother dead the moment I entered the world. I killed and made people disappear. As a result I was born as an Empty.”  
Cosette’s eyes widened in shock.  
Javert continued sobbing.  
“So who gave you the Soul?” Cosette placed her hand on his shoulder. It was as if being touched by sunlight.  
Javert looked up at her and smiled. He knew he was ugly but he couldn’t help it. This moment gave him a small feel of having a family- something he deeply desired though he didn’t realise it until this day.

“I must have given you it.” Valjean muttered.  
Cosette hugged Javert while exhaling a sigh of relief. She now trusted the man. Javert held her in his arms, aware of how delicate she was, as if she was a bird in his hands.  
Valjean saw this and softly spoke. “You can live here. With us.”  
Cosette withdrew and held her father’s hand, nodding. “Please. We will be there for you. Every step of the way.”  
Teary eyed, he watched the two of them in disbelief. “But I-”  
“Aided me. You helped me. You allowed me to stay with my daughter.” Valjean smiled. “There is no better deed than that for me. My Soul must have found you, grateful for your compassion.”  
Javert blinked several times. This was what he wanted. Earlier on when he saw two paths; either take Valjean or take himself, he now saw the third road. It magically appeared in front of him. He couldn’t wait anymore. “There was nothing I would love more.”

Jean Valjean felt overwhelming joy; a familiar wave washed over him. In response he reached out and held Javert's hand. He looked deep into the man's eyes and smiled. "Thank you."

**Author's Note:**

> 'Aight, quick explanation: when they give Souls, it is not their complete Soul. Imagine it being like a glass of water and them pouring a certain amount. That's what giving Souls is like. (So they can give Souls to multiple people) Since I'm bad at explaining, I'm writing this here.
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
